Futurama. All images & © 1999 Fox Broadcasting Company.

Who would be better to review a cartoon about the future than future animators? Representing a pool of animation talent at The Savannah College of Art and Design, we have seen the future for our debut review in the form of Matt Groening's new animated series Futurama which previews on Fox, Sunday, March 28 and April 4 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT) before moving to its regular timeslot Tuesday, April 6 (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT).

Getting to Know Them
Futurama stars Fry (voiced by Billy West), a slobbish, slow-witted pizza delivery boy who gets cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve, 1999. He wakes up one thousand years later to find himself in a totally new world. In the future he meets Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal), a one-eyed alien girl who is a fate assignment officer with bad depth perception. Along the way, he befriends Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio), a beer drinking, cigar smoking, pornography loving robot programmed to bend girders for suicide booths. Fry also meets his 149-year-old great-great-great-great etc. nephew, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, who has a collection of assorted lengths of wire. Together they form the Planet Express Corporation, a delivery service that transports cargo all over the universe.

This move by Groening to introduce a new show reminds us of the Hanna-Barbera of old. The success of The Flintstones as an animated sitcom has been compared to The Simpsons' success many times. It seems that Groening is allowing history to repeat itself, almost mirroring Hanna-Barbera's move with The Jetsons, keeping the same formula but moving it to the future. This could prove to be a smart move. "I'm a big fan of The Simpsons," says college student Seth Grant, "but I've always wished for Matt Groening to create a setting where he could broaden his horizons from the simple setting of Springfield."

The most obvious aspect of Futurama is its similarity to The Simpsons. When one watches the show, it's hard to get over the fact that one isn't watching The Simpsons. The character design is the same. The humor is the same. Blinky the fish made a cameo appearance, and we wouldn't be surprised if other Simpsons characters made there way into the future as well. This is not to say this is a bad thing. The Simpsons continues to be one of the most successful animated programs of all time. The idea of creating another show with the Simpsons' style and witty humor will no doubt prove a smart decision for Fox.